Lady Camilla Dorothy Godolphin Osborne (formerly Harris and Dempster; born 14 August 1950) is an English heiress. She is the only child of

John Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds John Francis Godolphin Osborne, 11th Duke of Leeds (12 March 1901 – 26 July 1963) was a British peer. He was the son of George Godolphin Osborne, 10th Duke of Leeds and Lady Katherine Frances Lambton. He succeeded to the title of 11th Duke of ...

Early life and family

Lady Camilla Osborne was born on 14 August 1950 to

, and his second wife,

Audrey Young Audrey Young (October 30, 1922 – June 1, 2012) was an American film actress and a big-band singer who was most active in the 1940s. She was the wife of director Billy Wilder. Early years Young was born in Los Angeles, California, Her father, ...

. She grew up in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

, where her parents moved to avoid heavy taxes. Her parents divorced in 1955 after her mother had an affair with a Guards officer. Her mother later remarried to Sir David Roland Walter Lawrence, 3rd Baronet. Osborne's father married a third time in 1955 to Caroline Fleur Vatcher. In 1963, at age 13, Osborne's father died without male issue. Due to the

entail In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust established by deed or settlement which restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents the property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise alien ...

limiting the peerages to males only, she could not inherit her father's titles. The titles of her father passed to his cousin Sir D'Arcy Osborne, making him the 12th Duke of Leeds. When D'Arcy Osborne died in 1964 without issue, the Dukedom of Leeds and all the other peerages became extinct. While she was not able to inherit the dukedom from her father, she did inherit money from his personal estate upon his death along with an annual allowance. In 1971 she inherited £1,000,000 (equivalent to £12,970,000 in 2016) from the family trust. Osborne studied philosophy and English at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

, but left after a year.

Personal life

Osborne married Julian Brownlow Harris and in 1972 gave birth to a daughter, Emily Kate Godolphin Harris. The couple later divorced. In 1975 she became engaged to Christopher Moorsom, but later called off the engagement. Osborne married a second time to Nigel Richard Patton Dempster in 1977 at the

Chelsea Register Office Kensington and Chelsea Register Office is an office for the registration of births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships located in Chelsea Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London. It has hosted the weddings of many notable people. According to '' ...

. The couple spent the first years of their marriage living separately. She gave birth to another daughter, Louisa Beatrix Dempster, in 1979. The marriage was dissolved in 2002. Nigel Dempster and Lady Camilla remained close after their divorce. Dempster died on 12 July 2007. Osborne was present at his funeral. Osborne stated that she believed her father, having sold the family estate Hornby Castle, lived an unhappy life without purpose. In 2004, Osborne sold a painting by

William Oram William Oram (Born circa 1711, died 1777) was an English painter and architect. Life Oram was educated as an architect, and, through the patronage of Sir Edward Walpole, obtained the position of master-carpenter to the Board of Works. He designe ...

that had been painted for one of the Dukes of Leeds. Osborne was featured in the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

documentary ''The Last Dukes''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osborne, Camilla Living people 1950 births Daughters of English dukes Camilla People associated with Newcastle University